FIGHT BACK\Routine checkups, pet health insurance cost-effective.

Byline: David Horowitz 

These days, owning a pet is more than an emotional commitment. We Americans treat our animals like members of the family, and when they're sick or injured, we expect the best veterinary care to make them well again. Like human medicine, veterinary medicine has made tremendous advances in the past few years. And, like human health care, the cost of treating our pets continues to rise, as new techniques are developed for treating them.

Vets can now perform open-heart surgery to correct birth defects, install pacemakers, rebuild injured or displaced hip joints, employ advanced chemotherapy to treat leukemia, heal burns and wounds with lasers and even do organ transplants. More and more vets are specializing in fields such as animal cardiology, opthamology and dentistry.

Some veterinary clinics have become 24-hour trauma centers, with sophisticated emergency rooms equipped to deal with sick and injured animals at all hours of the day or night. ER treatment is now one of the fastest-growing specialties in veterinary medicine.

In one sense, such high-tech treatment for animals is a bargain. A heart operation that would cost $10,000 or more for a human may cost only $2,000 for a dog or cat. But for most families, that's still a major expense, and it doesn't include the cost of traveling to some distant city to find a vet who's qualified in that specialty.

In such situations, family members are often faced with making an agonizing choice - spend the money or put a beloved family pet out of its misery. It's a complex decision, involving the family's financial situation, its attachment to the animal and the quality of life the animal will experience if the treatment is successful. Given the growth of specialized veterinary care, it's obvious that more and more people are willing to spend whatever it costs to save their pets.

One way to reduce the cost of catastrophic illness in pets is a routine medical checkup at the vet. Preventive health care, along with proper diet and exercise, can prolong an animal's life, catch many illnesses in their early stages and avoid costly critical care later on. Planning regular office visits in advance also puts less of a strain on the family budget.

These visits should also include a dental checkup. More than 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats develop gum disease by age 3. Veterinary experts say routine dental care can add three to five years to a dog or cat's life expectancy and can prevent oral infections from spreading to the animal's heart, lungs and kidneys.